The Fun Fight
by agirlnamedraven
Summary: The fight between Rose and Dimitri in Dimka's pov! Enjoy. Rated T for thoughts... You've been warned.


**A/N: Hey guys! I want to give a special shout-out to all of my reviewers! You mean a lot to me. The reviews are what keep me motivated, so keep 'em coming! Here's one I've been planning on writing for the longest time; I just never got around to it. As usual, I own nothing. Michelle Read is one smart cookie! On to the Fight!**

The Test

Today was the true test to distinguish those ready to take responsibility for someone's life and those who just simply were not ready. It was Sunday, the supposed off day for the Dhampir seniors. At the beginning of the Field Experience, they were told that they would be safe from attacks on the only day off, Sunday. Not even night time was exempt, though those attacks were rare. Today we'd get to see those who handled surprise attacks the best, and boy, were the students in for a treat.

All of the participating guardians were attacking today. We'd spread out across the campus, lying in wait for our unsuspecting victims. I was dressed in black, from head to toe, like the others. My group consisted of Yuri and Jean, two of the other guardians at the school. Jean taught the elementary students basic attacks and defenses. Yuri was the resident tatooist, and one of the ones who stayed on protection detail, an all around good guy. Well normally. Today we'd all be the badass bad guys.

We made our way to one of the main pathways. Jean was in the lead, with Yuri right behind her. I brought up the rear, doing my best to make sure we weren't seen. Luckily, the shadows gave us many hiding spots to run in, and no one saw us. Crouching in some bushes alongside one of the main paths, we waited for our… challenge.

It didn't take very long. We heard the voices before we saw the people. Lissa and Rose were walking, talking to each other about therapy.

"Who knew the day would come when we'd be comparing notes on therapy?" Lissa asked, and they both giggled. Jean started to move to intercept them, but I held her back. It would be no fun with just one novice, even if it was Rose. One novice against three fully trained guardians would have been a five minute fight. With Rose, maybe ten, maximum.

"I think I hear someone else. Give it a minute." I breathed, making sure my sound didn't travel past her ears and alert Rose to our location. If given a heads up, she'd attack us before we'd have a chance to attack her, and that'd defeat the purpose of the exercise.

I was right. Dean Barns came wandering up to the two girls, intruding on what would have been a private conversation, had we not been there first. "Hey Rose. A bunch of us are trying to figure out why you're on half-time." He said, with a slight slur to his words. It sounded as if he had been drinking. She easily answered the question, telling half truths, obviously having concocted an excuse, which was something about being sick and the doctor not wanting her on full time duty. She quickly changed the subject to one that we three guardians were interested in.

My question was about to be answered when Rose asked "Have you been drinking?" Alcohol wasn't allowed on campus, at least not for the students. If he had, he'd be in big trouble.

"Yeah, Shane got some stuff and had a few of us up to his room… Hey!" he said, his expression written all over the tone of his voice. Rose must have been looking at him with some sort of negative emotion, because he was getting all defensive.

"Hey what?" she asked, feigning innocence. I loved the fact that she was completely in control, something we had worked hard for her to gain.

"Don't look at me like that." Ha. I was right. Rose was growing, maturing. She was miles ahead of some people, readiness wise. I knew she'd have no problems with the upcoming challenge.

"Like what?"

"Like you disapprove."

"I'm not." She said argumentatively.

"You are, actually." Interjected Lissa. This conversation was becoming more and more entertaining.

"Hey, it's my day off, and even if it's Sunday, that doesn't mean I can't – "

Then Jean moved out. Yuri followed her. My job was to stay behind for the first few minutes and record information. Then I was allowed to join in the fun… I mean the fight.

Rose was ready; she threw herself in front of Lissa. Dean, however was not. He just stood there, dumbfounded, trying to figure out what was going on. Meanwhile, Rose was fighting both Jean and Yuri at the same time, and doing a good job. I started watching the fight just in time to see Jean get a mean punch to the face/kick to the stomach combo. She flew back into Yuri with a soft whoosh, who was trying to cover for her. They both hit the ground and Rose was on top of Jean, practice stake aiming for the heart which we had practiced so many times finding. With one swift movement, Jean was technically "dead" so she moved off to the side to take over recording. It was my time to enter the fight. I waited just long enough to see Rose square off with Yuri.

Deciding that Dean had gone long enough unpunished, I decided to attack him instead of once again double-teaming Rose, although I did hope she was able to "kill" Yuri, so I had a chance to brawl with her. Turning my attention to Dean, I started weaving, trying to judge his reaction time. Ducking to the left, I expected him to follow. Unfortunately for him, he didn't. He barely moved. I swerved to my right, again expecting him to follow me. And again, another black mark was put on his record for this test.

I spared a glance at my partner, Yuri, to see how he was doing with Rose. I knew he'd be having a hard time, because after all, I had been training with her every day for the last couple of months. She was ahead of most of the Novice students, and even some of the Guardians when it came to hand to hand combat. It was something that came naturally to her, and training helped a lot. They both had landed a few good blows, judging by the limp Yuri had, and how Rose was subconsciously rubbing her arm.

I turned back to Dean just in time to dodge a weakly thrown punch. He left his arm hanging out, so I grabbed it and spun him so his back was facing me. Luckily for him, Rose distracted me with her takedown of Yuri, and he was able to face me again. Suddenly, he was flying off to the side of the fight, and Rose was in front of me. The expression on her face was priceless. She must not have known I was in the attacking group, because to say that she was surprised was an understatement. For a minute, I saw her resolve waiver. I knew the look she wore; one we all had worn at some point, when fro the first time, we had to kill colleagues turned Strigoi, sometimes willingly, sometimes forced. She was remembering me as she knew me: her lover, her mentor, her protector. Not how she should see me as: her enemy, the evil creature trying to kill her, the focus of her hate. Then her expression changed. It was one of pure determination. She was going to win, and that was that. Maybe. Right then, I knew this fight would be a long one.

We began circling one another, never turning our backs. She never let me even begin to get near to Lissa. She sprang towards me, trying to catch me off guard. But I was faster. It also helped that we had the daily practices. I knew what moves she favored, and her weaknesses. I brushed her blow off with a glancing blow to her head. She acted as if she couldn't feel it, but I knew later it would hurt. It pained me, having to hurt my Roza, but I knew it was better if it happened here than out in the real world, where it was really life or death. Here the worst that could happen would be that you ended up in the infirmary with a concussion or broken bone. Out in the real world, you wouldn't be going to an infirmary. You'd be going to a morgue.

Glancing around, I saw people sprinting over to watch our fight. Other novices poured in, straining to see the famous Rose Hathaway take on her mentor, the Badass Belikov. I heard what the students said about me, and parts of it were true. Others, however, were grossly exaggerated.

I focused back on Rose, giving her my full attention. The control she exhibited was phenomenal. Playing nicely, we took turns attacking and defending. Sometimes I'd come in with a simple rear hand cross, or front hand jab, and she'd throw a simple parry, such as double crescent, or even just an outside block. Other times I'd lead with a complex combination, throwing roundhouse and sidekicks in, along with attempted joint locks. I could never get a good setup for the joint locks, though. Which was great, meaning she knew enough not to let the fight end with that. The kicks she'd block easily, either moving out of the way, or blocking with her own. She'd try and initiate takedowns, which were hard for her, considering the disparity between our size and weight.

About half way through the fight, something changed in her style of attacks. She began to anticipate my moves. The training we had shared worked both ways. I knew her weaknesses, and she knew mine. It made the fight all the more interesting, because I had to start coming up with new things. The fight was, well, tricky. We were too evenly matched. She was coming close actually defeating me, single-handedly.

I saw an opening, and took it. I swooped in, using the full force of my body to throw her off balance. It worked. She was able to block most of it, but she started to stagger back, just ever so much. Before she could recover, I had her on the ground, using my favorite takedown, the hip wheel. Maneuvering for a pin, we grappled. She didn't give in, because one of the first things drilled into the kids was the saying, "Even if you're down, you're not out." There's so much you can do from the ground, so even though I had most of her lower body pinned under me, she figured out an escape plan.

She threw her elbow into my face, landing a really good blow. I flinched on contact, knowing I'd most likely have a black eye in the coming days. Rose didn't hesitate; she saw an opening and took it. I found the positions reversed; she was on top, and I was on bottom. I was almost done for, but of course I couldn't give it to her easily. While she tried to get her stake, I started wiggling and pushing up against her, trying to break her pin. She pushed right back, managing to keep me down by staying low to the ground herself. The lower your center of gravity, the easier time you have maintaining control. Finally, she had complete control of the situation. I could tell she felt off balance, like she wasn't going to be able to hold me any longer. But it was the complete opposite. Our eyes locked just as she got a firm hold on her stake. I gave one more last ditched attempt to rid her from being on top of me, but it failed. The practice stake came down over my heart, and the battle was over. She had won.

I could hear people cheering, but it really didn't matter. Rose was sitting on top of me still, panting heavily. I joined in, trying to replenish my oxygen supply. I was so proud of her, my Roza, so proud. She had taken on three fully trained guardians, and had defeated us all. She stared back, joy filling her expression, along with other sentiments. Pride in her accomplishment shone from her face, as well as everyone else's. They didn't have to be her mentor to know what a feat she had just pulled off. Lust mixed with love in both of our faces. I knew that, anywhere else, this alone would have been my undoing. All of my hard work at trying to remain impassive and calm would have been thrown out the window in a heartbeat. If we hadn't been in the middle of the campus, in the middle of the day, surrounded my tons of people all watching us intently, I would have kissed her. Not just kissed her, but also ripped her dirty, mud sodden clothes off, and claimed her as my own. I could tell her mind was in the same place mine was, and knew I had to be the stronger person. Now was not the time for me to get fired, or for her to be expelled because of our relationship.

The spell was broken by Jean, who extended her hand to Rose, helping pull her up off of me. I didn't mind her lying on me. It felt natural, as if that was where she belonged. However, she stood up, while I stayed on the ground for another few seconds trying to compose my self. Jean and Yuri were grinning, amazed at her display of prowess. I jumped up, after regaining my composure.

Looking around, I saw everyone, including Lissa and the people who had shown up to watch, beaming with delight. This had been the one match everyone had been dying to see, and it had actually happened. Dean, of course, knowing he was in some major trouble, looked dejected. We'd deal with him later, in private. No one wanted to diminish Rose's accomplishments by bringing up what he had done.

"Well done. You took down all three of us. That was textbook perfect." Yuri said, speaking for the three of us. She had noticed that I had gotten up, and hadn't looked at me. She looked at both Jean and Yuri, but wouldn't look at me. At first, I was worried. Maybe I had actually hurt her? Did things go too far? Then I realized it. She couldn't look at me without giving some hint of our shared feelings away to the world.

"I hope… I hope I didn't hurt any of you." she said, stuttering just a little. It was completely understandable. Once the adrenaline rush wore off, a person tired really quickly. We were both spent, physically and mentally from the fight.

However, her statement made all of us laugh. Only after the fact could a novice get away with not wanting to hurt us, because in the midst of a fight, they needed to give it their all. "That's our job." Jean explained. "Don't worry about us. We're tough. She got you pretty good with her elbow." She continued. Sometimes I wished she would just stop talking. I didn't want her to worry about me. I would be fine.

So I decided to crack a joke and a smile. "The student surpasses the teacher. Or stakes rather."

Yuri changed the focus away from Rose. "Alcohol isn't allowed on campus." He said, speaking to Dean.

"But it's Sunday! We aren't suppose to be on duty." Dean said, trying to justify why he wasn't prepared. Although how the fact that it was Sunday played into the no alcohol on campus rule worked, I didn't quite understand.

Jean went into teacher mode. "There are no rules in the real world. Consider this a pop quiz. You passed it, Rose. Very nice job."

"Thanks. I wish I could say the same for my clothes. I'm going to have to go change, Liss. I'll meet you for dinner." She said, looking at her muddy, dripping clothes. Mine weren't any better, with the exception of being in all black… well brown now, and wearing fighting clothes. Rose was looking nice, in a casual sort of way; well she had been. We were both wearing identical outfits of brown pants, brown shirts, and brown shoes. Even our skin had a brown tint to it, as well as our hair. We were both caked in mud, head to toe. It would take a nice long hot shower to get rid of it. And of course, it was just the two of us. Yuri, Jean, Dean, and Lissa had stayed perfectly clean. I had expected Lissa to come out unscathed, but not so much for the other three. I guess none of the other fights were taken to the ground.

"And you," Yuri pulled on Dean's sleeve, "are going to take a walk with us."

I glanced up, meeting Rose's eyes. I didn't want to go and have the 'We really don't think you're ready to graduate, so unless you step it up and prove us otherwise, it won't be happening…' speech with Dean. I wanted to go and have the 'I'm so proud of you, so let me show it to you in a physical, tangible way…' speech with Rose, which would have been a private speech in one of the abandoned cabins, probably the one Tasha had occupied during her stay. It was closest and the most furnished, but that speech would have to wait. I gave her a subtle nod, hoping it would get the message to her. I heard a soft sigh as I moved swiftly, catching up to the others, waiting for the chewing out to begin.


End file.
